New Book: Everything Tells Us About God

But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; 

And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 

Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; 

And the fish of the sea will explain to you. 

Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, 

In whose hand is the life of every living thing, 

And the breath of all mankind? 

~ Job 12:7-10

Sometimes I enjoy "virtual storytime" - as my daughter calls it - with my two young grandsons (ages two and five).  You should try it sometime!  Since they are far away from me, the boys just love Facetime-ing with their favorite books.  My trusty iPhone camera makes it easy to close in on the details of each page as I read aloud to them.

Today I was excited to share with them a brand new picture book from Ancient Faith Publishing:  Everything Tells Us about God, by Katherine Bolger Hyde.  It's so thoughtfully written, and Romanian illustrator Livia Coloji's colorfully fun, retro-feeling pictures really enhance the thought-provoking text. (It's sure to become a family favorite, which you'll soon discover, as you read along in my post)...

My ever enthusiastic five-year old grandson was especially all eyes and ears, since the inside cover and first page referred to the world as a GIANT puzzle. (He noticed there was one piece missing, but we had to wait until the end of the book to find out which one!)

One of my favorite lines in this book also really grabbed my grandson's attention (and I whispered it, of course)...

Every piece whispers one of His secrets -- all we need to do is listen.

Each page of the book reveals the puzzle pieces of creation and what they teach us about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The sun, wind, water, bread...

On the page following bread - referring to food - a little boy is shown picking a pear from a tree with his Daddy.  We zoomed in on the pear, and my grandson shouted, "Grandma! Like the fruits of the Spirit!"  (Yay! Somebody's been paying attention to his Bible lessons!)

Next we learned how rocks tell us

Christ is as strong as a boulder...

Then we moved on to hear how the ocean, seeds, stars and the universe ("it's outer space, Grandma!!"), animals (this was a favorite page too!), and even roads, playgrounds, and schools teach us about God.

I especially appreciated that Katherine included stories, and how they teach us "the One Eternal Story"...

Finally, we learned that all the people we meet help us understand that Jesus became human -- which brought us to one last piece of the puzzle.  Can you guess who that piece represents?

YOU!

As soon as we finished, my grandson happily declared, "Grandma, this is the BEST book I've ever heard!"  High praise indeed!

At the end of the book,  you'll find an author's note/tribute, in which Katherine Hyde explains how Fr. Thomas Hopko (of blessed memory) actually inspired this story!

Oh, and one last thing.
Any young red-heads out there will appreciate the auburn hues on heads, young and old, throughout the book!  I'm sure Mrs. KBHyde (a natural born redhead) had something to do with that?  I LOVE that fun detail!

Katherine Bolger Hyde, author.

Katherine, thank you for this lovely book!  It's a perfect read aloud for the 4-8 year old range.  (And it would make a great read for Earth Day, coming up in April.  But honestly, for those who love God everyday is Earth Day, right?!)

What Can You Tell Your Children About Theophany?

The Blessing of the Waters is a beautiful service that takes place in the Orthodox Church for Epiphany (also called Theophany).  Today our priest sent around a beautiful sermon by Father Mark Sietsema that began with the question,

“What do you mean by this service?”

Fr. Mark's expounds:
This was the question that little Israelite children were taught to ask at the Passover seder ritual (Exodus 12:26). This same question we too should ask in the month of January as we celebrate the Baptism of Christ. Through the liturgies of Epiphany and the blessings of homes, we also re-celebrate our own Baptisms, which are simply reenactments of His Baptism. 
(You can read the sermon in its entirety here.)

Archbishop Anastasios, Blessing the Waters [source orthodoxalbania.org]

Father Mark says that to comprehend the deeper meaning of the feast of Epiphany, we must look to the book of Genesis - and particularly the story of Creation, Adam and Eve, and The Flood in the time of Noah.

As Father goes on to explain, these Genesis stories will help us better understand Christ's own baptism because...

source

What we see on Epiphany, then, is a re-staging of the Creation: the Spirit hovering like a mother bird, in the form of a dove; the approval of the Father thundering from the open heavens; and out of the dark waters emerges the new creation—but this time God starts from the end and works backward! The first creature to emerge from the waters is a man—Jesus Christ. And so it begins—the healing of our nature, the re-harmonization of all creatures, the reconciliation of all living things to God. In time the New Creation will embrace the whole Universe...“For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His Cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).

Genesis Stories for Children
So, on to my book recommendations for today - gorgeous offerings from gifted artist, Jane Ray.

All her biblical stories are descriptive, adapted from Scripture (King James version), with vivid folk-art-inspired illustrations. I'm happy to say that all are available used, from Amazon!

This stunning volume, Let There Be Light, newer edition is The Orchard Book of Bible Stories) might be your best choice! It is a collection of the re-tellings of The Story of Christmas, The Story of Creation, and Noah's Ark.

To see all my posts and book recommendations for Theophany and Epiphany, go here.